A co-branded credit card is sponsored by two parties. Typically one is a retailer -- such as a department store, gas retailer or airline. The other is a bank or card network such as Visa, MasterCard, Discover or American Express. With co-branded credit cards, cardholders may get merchandise discounts or rewards points when they buy from the sponsoring merchant, but can also use the cards any other retailer that takes cards from the bank or card network. Also spelled cobranded.